Well bundet slips
by Stadakona
Summary: It was a Nordic Five meeting like any other. Sweden was creepy, Finland was trying not to be freaked out by it, Norway looked like he was trying to summon the Devil with his chant of "storebror" and Iceland was about to transform into said Devil to deal with said storebror. But, when Denmark arrives with a exceptionnaly well tied tie, something is bound to be wrong... DenNor?


**OH MY GOD! That was so long to write, but I made it~ **

**So yeah, first one shot inspired by me and my best friend cosplaying this rather, um... special pair of friends/lovers. We were talking of your respective cosplay after the event for which we were cosplaying at that idea strucked us because my leg was hurting and she "didn't care"... So yeah, here is what it gaves...**

**Take in note that only Denmark/Sweden and Norway/Iceland are brothers in that. So it may be a DenNor~ **

**The Nordic Five belongs to Himaruya**

* * *

It was a meeting like any other between the Nordic Five. Sweden was creepy, Finland was trying not to be freaked out by it, Norway looked like he was trying to summon the Devil with his chant of "_storebror_" and Iceland was about to transform into said Devil to deal with said _storebror_.

Oh! And, of course, Denmark was late…

Unfortunately for them, since the latter was the main beer drinker of their group, it had been decided a long time ago that he would buy and bring the amber drink from the gods to the meetings. This also meant that they had to deal with not having alcohol brought to the meetings before at least fifteen minutes had passed each and every time they met. And, without beer, the poor ex-Vikings and ex-Vikings'-conquests were condemned to be bored and boring has hell. The liquid gold was their fuel after all…

They were alerted of his arrival by the banging of Lukas' front door. As usual, the loud obnoxious voice preceded the arrival of his owner in the dining room, voicing practiced excuses for his lateness. As usual, the other four weren't sure they were glad that he made it here. As usual, his hair here in disarray, as if he had used an industrial fan to 'comb' his air that morning again. As usual, he had his stupid grin plastered on his face, a smile that, according the other four, was quite representative of their 'friend' mental capacity.

What was not usual though was the strong limp in his steps…

"Sorry for this guys, there was some traffic from the train station to here and-"

"What happened to you?" asked an half bored Norway. He didn't care for his excuses; they were probably only half honest anyway. The idiot was to self centered and 'awesome' to really feel sorry for trivial things like that.

"Uh? Oh that? Nothing, it'll be healed in a few days, a week at worse. Oh! Almost forgot! Berwy~ Would you get the beer in my car, I can't lift it with my leg. It's too heavy.. Lame eh? I know!" With that, he laughed his annoying laugh, liping to his chair while tossing his car key to his little brother.

"Don' ca' me 'at" mumbled angrily Berwald before leaving.

Denmark sat at his usual place, the end of the table, opposed to the hoist, in this occurrence his dear Norge. Only then did the others notice how well he was dressed, from his polished boots to his well tied normally-loose-tie. Mathias knew better than to tie his tie so neatly in presence of Lukas; in fact, Norway was currently fighting a subtle smirk at the idea of how easier it would be to choke the infuriating Dane now. They decided not to ask questions, all assuming that it was a new way for Mathias to attract the good graces of his love…

A few minutes later, with the beer finally arrived and served, the Nordic Five started their meeting.

OoOoOoOoO

They were nearing two hours since the beginning of the meeting and Mathias had yet to say something to annoy the hell out of his fellow Scandinavians. He was very polite and composed, annoying a bit and immature enough, but never more than what they were used to. They, surprisingly, were actually getting somewhere with their meeting…

And Lukas was bored…

He would have chocked the Denmark at least one hour from there now… at least two times in the last 30 minutes. Yet, no, the Dane was calm enough, listening to the others, interjecting times to times with half pertinent comments. He was, in fact, less loud and less talkative than habitual now that he thought of it. And he was drinking a lot. Oh, not beer though, no no. He couldn't, because of the pain killer for his leg he said when he was offered a glass. No, only water. Plain boring water… and liters of it also. After every sentence he said in fact. Lukas could see from the corner of his eyes that he was not the only one concerned by their, well, friend's behaviour. Finland was less cheerful, the broadness of his smile not reaching his eyes. Iceland was not casting as much annoying glances as usual to the taller man and Sweden scowl was more intense. However, the oblivious 'southerner' was still acting like nothing was wrong… so they concluded his thirst was only a side effect of the painkillers. Who knew what the strong medicine could do… maybe it was also the cause of his relative calmness.

They were discussing the possibility of making a special meeting in which they'd also invite their long lost-more-or-less-family-member, Canada, when Norway found his opening to start his favorite game in the world: choke the Dane. Denmark was indeed a little too close to Iceland for his liking, poking joyously the younger head while claiming that Iceland would certainly appreciate to have his 'little brother' with him. Emil was currently glaring at the table, probably picturing Mathias face engraved in the polished wood and trying to burn it.

"You could force him to call you big brother. It would change you from Norge asking the same from you!"

Then, again, this annoying, loud, insufferable laugh erupted in the room. It was too much for the already bored and annoyed Lukas. He rose from his seat and approached calmly an unaware Mathias that was occupied by apologising joyfully to a silver haired young man. The unusual request for forgiveness didn't stop Norway in his approach and neither did the suddenly alarmed look in Mathias eyes when he finally grabbed his tie. Silence fell suddenly while the atmosphere tensed abnormally. The Dane eyes were holding more nervousness and even fear than they ordinarily held in the same situation, as did his plea for mercy and ceasing of the not-even-started-yet-action.

"Norge? Norge please, don't do this. I didn't mean it. It was only a joke! Let me go No-"

He had heard enough and started to pull on the silken piece of fabric. The formal black accessory instantly fell into his new role of choking potentially mortal  
weapon, most to the dismay of its victim. Choking and spluttering, Mathias continued to beg and pull for as long as he could before his breathing came to short and wheezing for him to do anything else than try and catch what few of it he could feel threw his pharynx. After a minute of this, Lukas finally let him go, but nothing prepared him for the following reaction.

Denmark fell on his knees, cringing like it had hurt, gasping like a fish out of the water, his mouth opening uselessly. When some air seemed to pass through his throat, his breaths seemed half effective. After a few seconds, he placed his hands on the floor to help him support his body. Urgently, Mathias untied the silk noose with shaking hands while gasping incoherent words. He finally managed to get his point across.

"Coat… Co-coat! M-my co-oat!"

To shocked to move, Norway didn't heard Finland leave the room nor did he proceeded the fact that he had returned with the black and red wool clothe, duping it in front of the panicking Dane that instantly fell on it like a wolf on a deer, frantically looking in his pocket. When he finally retrieved the inhaler, he was wavering, barely conscious and frustratingly unable to uncap the breathing restoring remedy. Understanding what was going on, Sweden kneeled beside his older brother, taking the device from his hand, eliciting a weak panicked cry that he ignored in favor of uncapping the inhaler and putting it in the trashing blond mouth, pushing on the pump and expelling the bronchodilator at the same time.

"Brea'" he commanded calmly even though he was panicking inside. His only one hundred percent by blood related family member was dying in his arm, how was he supposed to stay calm.

The words makings their way through his fogged mind, Denmark closed his lips around the thing in his mouth and inhaled. After a few more breaths of the drug, he calmed down and fell asleep… or lost consciousness but they all preferred the 'asleep' hypothesis.

They all sighted in semi-relief when the Dane seemed to breathe almost correctly. Placing an arm under his back and another under his knee, Sweden rose with his fallen brother to go lay him down on the couch, casting only one disapproving glare at Norway. Finland was on his heel with a glass of water and Iceland, to occupy himself, decided to get the coat back in the wardrobe near the door. Norway shook his head and fell in his little brother chair, his eyes aghast.

What had just happened?

OoOoOoOoO

Hours had passed since the incident and the meeting had been adjourned after the event. Denmark explained he had had a small argument with one of his drinking body, the fight somewhat damaging his throat and all. Like the leg, it would be healed in a few days though so it was no biggies. After that, they stayed mostly to make sure that the Dane was okay before leaving one after the other, all except Iceland who was staying the night to catch his flight early in the morning. Mathias had been the last to go, having to deal with a responsible – read guilty – Norway who insisted on the Dane taking at least a cab instead of his rented car. Even so, he conceded when Mathias reminded him of the rapidity of nation's healing. He'd be fine he assured, and, with that, he had left.

It had been three hours ago and Norway could still feel the presence of Mathias in his land. First, he thought that he had gone drinking before leaving, but he then recalled that he couldn't consume alcohol because of his medication, so he concluded he was probably enjoying an out of price dinner in some fancy restaurant of the capital, the type that always takes a long time to bring you your food. However, taking three hours to eat was uncommon, even more for the hyperactive Dane. Maybe he was still waiting for is train… then again, if he had had three hours before him, he would have leave latter. Unless he had been eager to leave… Maybe he was angry at Norway; after all, he DID provoke the asthma attack… Still, seeing Mathias angry at Norway was an improbable thing since the end of the Kalmar Union… and even then…

Oh! He knew! The stupid man had probably missed his train and now had to wait for the next one. That was probably it… or that was what Norway told himself until midnight passed and he could still feel the Dane in his country.

OoOoOoOoO

_"What the hell is he doing here?!"_ was what Norway kept repeating himself since he had left the last town behind himself while following the Dane presence to find him. Mathias was far from Oslo now, somewhat between the capital and the little retreat where Norway had his home. Yet, he was neither on the road to Oslo neither on one to Lukas home. He was, literally, in the middle of nowhere. _"No wonder I couldn't call him…"_ If he continued on this road, Mathias would be reaching some small villages farther west… Then again, 'reaching' would have implied that Mathias was moving. Now that it thought about it, Lukas felt him stagnate in the same spot of land since the very beginning of his search, the only change being the weakening of his 'signal'. Something was definitively wrong about all this, and the Norwegian sensed that the probable dramatic ending of this story would potentially be partly his fault for not searching what was going on with the Dane earlier.

Finally, Norway distinguished some kind of vehicle on the side of the deserted road. What was Denmark's rating car doing there?! Alarmed, Norway parked his car behind the red Citroën and exited his own car to go check Denmark. On the way, he swore that if it was some kind of joke from the younger, he would choke him with that red tie of his and let him die from his asthma, whatever wrath from Sweden he had to face later. Anyway, has a country, he wouldn't be dead for ever…

All his plot of murder left him when he faced the frosted window of Denmark car. Frosted… like if no heat had been coming from inside. Yet, Lukas could clearly feel Mathias presence coming from inside the car. Scraping the ice from the window, Lukas looked inside with some light surrounding his hand as a flashlight. Sure enough, the Danish man was inside, sleeping… or that's what it looked like. The cold however, added with the seemingly shallow breath from the 'sleeper', if the short puff of white bursting from his bluish lips were anything to go by, betrayed the truth. Denmark was unconscious for the second time in barely twelve hours.

Casting a rapid spell under his breath, Lukas unlocked the car door and stepped aside to let his clever troll, always present when needed, take hold of the definitively unconscious man and take him back to Lukas car. Taking note of the inside of the cars, to make sure nothing needed would be left behind; Lukas saw the cane on the floor in front of the back seats. Was the wound on Mathias leg that bad? If so, why had he not taken the cane to walk in Lukas' house? Was he that vain that he preferred to hurt that to show weakness? No, surely not, Mathias was always complaining when he had the smallest sickness or cut… _"Then again… he always tries to be reassuring when he have bigger ones… Is that what happened?"_

While thinking all that, Norway had took the cane and the cellphone, left in the cup holder, lock the door and returned to his car, taking note of where they were in his body so he could ask someone under his boss command to go get the car in the morning.

In the car, Denmark was lying in his cold wet clothes, the tip of his nose, ears, fingers and probably feet and vivid red, clearly frost nipped. Some parts even seemed burned from the cold, the skin crackling slightly from cold burnt. Norway sighted, starting the car.

_"Just what had you got yourself into AGAIN Denmark…"_

OoOoOoOoO

Lukas locked the door, undressing himself while his troll was carrying the frozen man in his master room to lay him on the bed before disappearing again. Reaching the door just has the magic being was dissipating; the smaller man sighted and decided to undress the younger male of is wet clothes. After all, it was the first thing to do if he wanted him to get warmer. First the boots and the coat, he returned to the main door to depose the articles there before returning in the master bedroom to take care of the other clothes.

Too preoccupied by his friend state, Lukas wasn't thinking about the very fact that he was undressing the full grown man while he 'slept' in his bed. Had it been in any other situation, the Norwegian would have probably been brick red from the roots of his hair to the base of his neck. Yet, the urgency of all this prevented him of being invade by such thought, even more when he finally managed to undo the silk tie. Instead of blushing, he was shocked by his discovery. Never one to jump to conclusion, he undid the first buttons of the shirt to make sure he wasn't imagining things, but he couldn't ignore the purple and red raw skinned necklace of bruises around the Dane neck, just underneath…

"… his tie…" groaned Norway, feeling sick to the stomach. Had he really done that? While he pulled and pulled always more on the tie every time he saw the Dane, the young man was silently, secretly, nursing bigger and bigger bruises, after each encounter.

But Norway wasn't allowed much more time to contemplate the possibility; has he undid the other buttons; he was met with a white bandage all around Mathias' torso, soaked too. Having no other choice than to change them too, he lifted the heavier man and unrolled the bandages to reveal the normally sculpted torso now painted with fading yellow and purple, swellings still slightly inflated around some ribs. Lukas suddenly had flash backs of many MANY times where he would elbow his friend in the ribs, either it was justified or not. Worrying his lip, Norway grazed a bruise delicately, eliciting a grimace and a weak pained moan from the unconscious man, causing Lukas to take back his hand, holding it against its chest like he had been burnt. The silent pleas of 'No more' and 'Forgive me Lukas' only added to the eating guilt of the Norwegian. This new, vulnerable and afraid side of Denmark was really not as appreciated as Norway first thought it would be for him…

He shook his head and continued his work, focusing on doing something nice for the Dane for once in, at least, the last century.

OoOoOoOoO

By the time he was finished, Mathias was wearing only his boxer and was wrapped up in as much blanket as Lukas could found the Dane clothes in the dryer so they would be warm and dry when he'd need to dress up again. During his work, Lukas has discovered the reason for Mathias strong limping being a nasty sprain on his right ankle couple with wounded swelled knee. Even if he couldn't remember a moment when he had hit the Danish man there, he had the persistent feeling that it was his fault too.

It was while he was taking his temperature again that Lukas felt him stir, probably waking up from his reheated body. It had been more than three hours after all. He groaned, blinked, and looked at Lukas. He whispered weakly:

"Wha-?"

"Don't. Your throat must be hurting. Here, drink a bit, it's warm water with lemon and honey. Not that good, but it should warm you as well as appease your throat. Would have been more effective with rum, but since you take medication for your knee…"

Without a word, Mathias obeyed and drank the concoction before realizing something… "Wait? How do you know for my knee?"

"The question should rather be 'Why did you not tell me about your knee?' And your ankle. And the fact that I bruised your neck and your ribs so bad with my treatment towards you-"

"Because you wouldn't have cared-" mumbled Denmark

"I'm sorry- What?"

"What?"

"I asked first? Why did you said that?"

"Said what? That you wouldn't care? Because it's true! You're the one beatting me, telling me to go die, telling me how much of a waste of space and time I am-"

"Denmark… I-"

"And your true…"

"What?!"

"You're true! I really am a waste of space… I've never done anything good in my life… I'm always drunk… my only Empire was built by annexing my only friends and family and their own conquest and consequently all make them mad at me… I was the first to bow before Germany…"

"And it was for the best. Would you have preferred your people to end up like Poland's ones? And you saved almost all the Jews in your country by sending them to your brother just before surrendering. And not everyone hates you… Sweden was the one to save you this afternoon, and Finland was tearing just seeing you like that, and Iceland-"

"And you hate me…"

Lukas remained silent for a moment. Was it really what thought the Dane? That he hated him. Sure, he was not the more loving among the Nordic Five toward him, but he did not HATE him… Then again, he was always berating him, hitting him, chocking him…

"Your throat… I did this didn't I?"

"… Yes… The doctor said that the repeated throttling crushed my trachea and caused it to contract… I have to use my pomp do help it dilate when it gets too small…"

"I see… and your ribs?"

"Bruised, there is just one cracked, but it's mostly healed. And before you ask my knee and ankle is from that time you tripped me last week. I tried recovering my balance, but landed badly on my ankle, and then on my knee. Luckily for me, there was a rock just where my knee hit the ground so, yeah… broken knee."

"And when I heard you screaming I just continued on my way…" breathed Lukas. He was surprised to hear Mathias laugh like if the very memory.

"It would have taken that, but I finally got the message. You hate me and I should leave you alone."

"I don't hate you…"

"Oh, Norway, no need to lie for my sake, I mean, you never did before so-"

"I don't hate you! It's not a lie!" Blushing a bit, Lukas looked to the side before continuing. "You're annoying, insufferable really, drunk, most of the time, indeed, possessive, so much that it's infuriating. But you're also nice, somewhat generous, and loyal to your friend. You're always ready to comfort people even if you're sad yourself… and you're funny… And I don't hate you…"

And the raw hope in the Dane eyes after this declaration was painful to see…

"Really?!"

"Really."

"So, you love me?!"

"Don't push your luck…"

"Awww… Okay Norge~"

But the equally raw happiness in Denmark's voice as he held the stiff Norwegian in his probably the most beautiful thing Norway had seen since the last two centuries… since the last time he told the Dane that he loved him.

And that caused him to smile, just a little, while no one could saw him and his weakeness…

* * *

**Here you go**

**~Read & Review~**


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